


Reala Javatopia

by ChaiDreamLatte



Series: Javatopia [3]
Category: NiGHTS into Dreams
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, April Fools' Day, Coffee Shops, Gen, Reala Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 14:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10516017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaiDreamLatte/pseuds/ChaiDreamLatte
Summary: It's April 1st, and when Helen and Will walk into Javatopia, they find someone rather than the usual dreamy employees behind the counter.





	

Reala Javatopia

Andra Fable

 

            NiGHTS had quit their job at Wizebucks.  It wasn’t unexpected, NiGHTS felt drained doing two jobs.  NiGHTS got into crafting, and wanted to focus on that.  If NiGHTS was going to choose Wizebucks or Javatopia, Javatopia would be the winner. 

            Due to these turn of events, Helen hadn’t spent her evenings at Wizebucks, since NiGHTS wasn’t there to be a friendly face as she did homework.  Instead, Helen would go to the University library to do homework until it closed at midnight, then she went to her dorm. 

            Helen was warned at April 1st; that there were a lot of fake news stories and friends will play tricks on each other.  Of course, the tradition was present of England; it did start in France when they decided to change calendars. It was still the ides of March, so Helen wasn’t too worried about any tricks yet.

            Helen was working on her biology homework.  She hated that the States had Gen Eds, but it was something that couldn’t be helped in Helen’s situation.  Helen quite liked the sciences and how the world worked.  Helen was a Music Ed major, so knowing a little bit of everything couldn’t hurt.

            There was a long line at Javatopia, so NiGHTS and Claris were too busy to talk.  Yet she can’t help but overhear their idle conversation.    “Sixteen more days,” Claris huffed, “then things are going to get harder than this.”

            Helen didn’t take much thought into what Claris had said.  Maybe things got busier later in spring?  Helen took out her computer to start with a lab report.  Helen counted the sixteen days in her head, when she realized that it was the infamous April 1st that everyone was warning her about.  Is Javatopia going to play a prank on the customers?  At least Helen would be ready for anything up NiGHTS’ sleeve.

        

* * *

   

           

            April 1st ended up being a Saturday that year, but Helen wanted to see that this prank was going to be about, so she took a walk with Will to downtown to see Javatopia.  Will was always up for pranks, so he wanted to see what NiGHTS was pulling off.

            When they walked in, the entire area was just black, not just black, but red and black.  No one had that coloration when they’re in Javatopia except for NiGHTS’ ex-coworker…

            Reala…

            Will snorted a little.  Helen could also admit: this was a pretty good prank.  So instead of NiGHTS working at Javatopia, it was Reala.  Walked over to the counter, and decided to order something a little fancy: the salted caramel mocha.  It was on the sandwich sign out front since March 20th, but Helen has been consistently ordering normal coffee, since she needed her java for the evening. “Hey Reala, can I have a large salted caramel mocha?”

            “What’s that?” Reala asked as they filed their yellow painted nails.  Helen wouldn’t expect yellow for a good color for Reala’s nails, but it is rather complimentary with the red on their hat. 

            In a usual day, that would be off-putting for a barista at Javatopia to not know what they’re serving, but Reala worked at Wizebucks, where they’re trying to push Macchiatos and Puffychinos.

            Will chimed in, “Well, according to the sign, it’s a mocha with caramel, toffee, and topped with salt.”

            “Oh, I know what that is, Wizebucks sells those periodically” Reala blew the dust off their nails, “I meant this, ‘large’ the girl is talking about.”

            “Oh, haha,” Helen verbalized to Reala, “the sizes at Wizebucks all mean ‘large,’ in Nightmare so please leave the sass at Wizebucks.”

            Reala took out the largest cup Javatopia offered, then began to make the salted caramel mocha.  When Reala finished, they slammed the paper cup on the counter wich spilled out a little bit of whipped cream onto the table, then looked at Will, “What would you like?”

            “Oh, just a small earl grey,” said Will.

            Reala poured hot water into the smallest cup, then placed a tea bag into the cup.  “That would be $6.10.”

            Helen gave Reala the cash, then they sat down on the black couch in front of the cafe.  The prank seemed funny at first, but it gave Javatopia a bad vibe.  No one else was there, and Helen wouldn’t think that Reala would be up for very much conversation.

            “Is this some kind of prank?” Will asked Reala.

            Reala flew over to the couch, “right, NiGHTS liked to converse with the customers, didn’t they?”

            “Yeah, when neither NiGHTS nor Claris were busy,” said Helen.

            “To answer this dashing young man’s answer,” Reala sarcastically retorted, “yes, it is a prank.  When NiGHTS and I broke up as coworkers, we were still interacting with each other.  About 20 years ago, we thought it would be funny to switch cafes, filling in each other’s work cards.  Then we began to do it each year.  Just as a little break from work.”

            “What about the years in which NiGHTS was working at Wizebucks and Javatopia?” Helen asked.

            “NiGHTS worked at Wizebucks, in the evenings, so they would work Wizebucks in the day and the evening on April 1st.”

            That sounded rather terrible in Helen’s opinion.  It seemed like a savior that NiGHTS had quit their job at Wizebucks to focus more on crafting.  Helen followed NiGHTS’ Pinterest page, and NiGHTS is very adept of crafting.  Helen often wished NiGHTS would sell their creations on Etsy. 

            Will and Helen finished their drinks, then waved to Reala goodbye.  It wasn’t the best time at Javatopia, but it was an interesting time to say the least. 

            Across the street was Wizebucks, where the line went outside of the store.  Helen was surprised what good service can bring to a customer base.  Was this why Reala wanted NiGHTS to work at Wizebucks for so long?  Helen mentally decided to wait until later to talk to NiGHTS at Wizebucks when the morning rush had died down.  Will wanted to go to the public library to pick up a biography of a British comedian that he liked, so they decided to go to the library to find that book.

  

* * *

         

 

            When things had died down at Wizebucks, Will and Helen walked over to Wizebucks to see both Claris and NiGHTS working the counter. It took a few seconds to realize that Claris and NiGHTS were the only two people who worked at Javatopia on weekends; so, everything was busy because there weren’t enough employees to cover the morning rush.

            Claris leaned over the counter, “April 1st on the Saturday is the death of me.”

            “That’s the world of retail,” NiGHTS said.  It didn’t seem like NiGHTS ever got tired, let alone sleep.  NiGHTS looked over at Will and Helen, then cried out, “hi!”

            Helen waved back, “how are you guys holding up?”

            “If one more middle aged woman yells at me for the drink being too cold, when she asked for a child temperature, I’m going to aptiva myself,” Claris distressed orally.  

            Helen didn’t really know what aptiva meant, but she got the point Claris was trying to make.  Helen knew what she had to do, “give me an apron!”

            “Helen, you aren’t trained or anything,” NiGHTS intervened, “do you even know how to use a register?”

            “I volunteer at the café at my college’s Sobriety House once a week, I know how to whip up a latte, cappuccino, or macchiato in any form.  There’s a register there as well,” Helen explained.

            “I never knew you didn’t drink,” Claris commented.

            “Of course, I do, I’m a college student,” Helen placed on the green Wizebucks apron over her white shirt and blue skirt.  “Just because I volunteer for the Sobriety hHuse, doesn’t mean that we’re all sober.”

            Claris cocked on eyebrow up, “Then what’s the point of a…?”

            “Resume building, that’s what,” Helen placed a green hat with the Wizebucks symbol of the hand with an eye on it, “and for situations like this.”

            “I’ll keep an eye on Reala,” said Will, “just in case they do anything fishy.”

            A pellet fell onto Will’s hand.  Helen saw that NiGHTS at threw it to Will as they winked at will, “just put this in your drink, it’ll spice things up.”  

 

* * *

 

 

            And fishy Reala does try.  A giant fish showed up at Wizebucks with a giant bucket.  Claris immediately went red and yelled out, “Gulpo, what are you doing here?”

            “I have enough points to get a free drink,” Gulpo took out their cellphone to show the amount of stars that they have, “and I want it to be a triple Trenta.”

            Helen did the math in her head, “that’s 90 Ounces! How are you going to drink that all?”

            “Oh, I have friends who I will share with,” Gulpo explained.  That was when a bunch of little fish showed up behind Gulpo, “we’re all going to share a matcha pink purple drink.”

            “What in Wizeman’s name is a matcha pink purple drink?” NiGHTS called out, “you can’t make up stuff and ask for a triple trenta.”

            Helen looked it up on her phone, then showed a picture of the group, it was a beauty of different shades of pink and purple all in a matcha tea, and there were recipes included.  Yet in a triple trenta?  This really had to be Reala’s bidding.

NiGHTS was the first to say, “no, I can’t have that happen.  You can’t have us make such a complicated drink for free.  I know you accumulated enough stars, but I bet they’re all on small coffees.”

“Yeah, they were, what of it?” asked Gulpo.

NiGHTS facepalmed so hard.  This was more difficult than this morning during the breakfast rush. “I guess it’s in our jurisdiction to make this drink.  Can we get 9 parts strawberry acais and 9 parts coconut milk girls?”

            The group prepared the giant drink.  All with the strawberry acai, coconut milk, passion fruit, soy milk, vanilla syrup and blackberries.  NiGHTS knew that Reala would kill them if they used that many ingredients without the customer paying for it, but the customer was always right.  This drink was an ugly monstrosity.  Especially since the bucket wasn’t see through enough to see the ombre design of the thing.

            “Thank you,” said Gulpo, “that wasn’t so hard, wasn’t it?” Gulpo left a tip in the glass tip jar, then left with his small fish buddies.

            This was the corporate nightmare that wouldn’t go down at Javatopia.

            Helen looked at the tip jar to see that Gulpo left a $5 bill in the jar.  Claris immediately grabbed it and called, “oh, what do we have here? A hefty tip for Claris?”

            Helen made a pouty face, she kind of wanted that $5, it’ll get her a latte at Javatopia.  That thought suddenly made her have puppy dog eyes.

            Claris looked over at Helen, then laughed, “oh, we made it together, and you aren’t getting paid.  You can have it after the shift.”

            Helen squeed with excitement.  She knew she was just volunteering, but it’s nice to get $5, especially after the triple trenta pink purple matcha. Can’t believe Gulpo and their fishy pals got away with that. 

          

* * *

 

           

            After the shift, Helen took the $5.  Javatopia was closed by then, so she couldn’t get that latte.  The prank was funny at first, but things got unfunny through the middle of things.  Helen couldn’t believe that the crews did that every year. 

            “Want to grab a beer?” Claris asked as she put her hair down and put on an orange sweatshirt.  “It’s the weekend, so there’s no happy hour, but Jet Dive Radio is pretty cheap for having local brews.”

            It was kind of odd that a bar would admit that they were a dive bar, but inexpensive local brews sound kind of good. Helen saw Will get out of Javatopia and she got out of Wizebucks waved to him, “hey, want to get a drink with Claris and I?”

            Will called across the street, “sure!”

            NiGHTS got excited, “Can I go? We can also invite Reala, I’m sure they had a hard day as well.”

            Reala closed Javatopia, then flew across the street, and tossed the keys to NiGHTS.  “It wasn’t that hard until the boy’s chai began to fizz up all over the table and floor.”

            “Maybe if you made them right, they wouldn’t fizz like that,” NiGHTS winked to Will, “Wanna go to Jet Dive Radio with us?  It’s pretty rare that we end our shifts at the same time.”

            Reala sighed as they looked at the three humans, “sure, but don’t get buddy, buddy with me, Visitors.”

            So the group walked off to Jet Dive Radio. It was an elaborate prank, but at least it was only once a year.

 

             


End file.
